The Tough Kids

After 6 at night at the downtown Perth train station all the commuters are replaced by roving gangs of Aboriginal youths, some as young as 7, who have nothing to do and no money to do it with. The ride around on the trains just to have something to do.

They don't go to school, they usually sniff glue and other brain damaging solvents, and their parents are usually in jail or no where to be found. These kids move around in loud rambunctious groups. They can be dangerous, especially to teenagers alone on the train or station. They will surround a kid and attack him for his shoes or sunglasses. It is not a good idea for a woman to ride alone or wait alone at the train stations, because they could turn their attention to her.

I had a late ride home last week, around midnight or so. There was a large and unusually loud group of these boys on my train. They were pushing each other around and then started to harass the other riders. The transit police got on at the next stop and kicked them all off at my stop. So I was just me, one cop, and about 15 of these kids running around the station and parking lot at the Warwick. I had an hour wait for my bus, so I figured this was going to get interesting.

The boys headed off to the parking lot, so the police left. Then the gang came back to the station and started trying to tear the payphones apart to get some money. Then some fight broke out among themselves about who knows what. They sounded like a bunch a angry raccoons fighting in a tree. They were making so much noise that may have waken half of Perth.

The police came back from somewhere and told them to knock it off, which they did and then they drifted off somewhere. The cop and I had an interesting talk about these boys for the rest of the my wait.

He said that his job as a transit cop on the late shift is nothing more than being an overpaid babysitter for these youths. I asked him why none seem to be over 20 years old. He explained that most of them never make it that far. Those who make their 20's are either in prison, dead, or their brains are so fried that they can't even figure out how to get to the train station.

He said that he actually really enjoys his job, but finds it frustrating to see new young faces headed down the same path every month. He said that the Oz government pays their moms extra money for every child they have. The kids never see the money. The same group of a dozen siblings might have a dozen different fathers.

He told me that I don't need to worry about them when I travel for a couple of reasons. First, I very large. He said that they try to act tough, but in reality they eat so poorly that they can't even fight or run. He also said that to them I look like a cop, so they would be very wary. Funny. I've never been mistaken for a cop before.